Power transformer maker commits to add 330 jobs, second plant in Eastern NC city
For the second time this week, North Carolina has awarded an economic incentive to a manufacturer that promises to add hundreds of jobs in the state.
Two days after approving a jobs grant for the pharmaceutical giant Roche to build a plant in Wake County, the N.C. Economic Investment Committee on Wednesday gave the power transformer firm Prolec GE Waukesha a $6 million incentive package to construct a second facility in the city of Goldsboro.
Goldsboro is about an hour’s drive southeast of Raleigh and serves as the county seat of Wayne County, where Prolec is already the 15th-largest employer. The city has seen its current population of around 33,000 slightly dip in recent decades.
Prolec GE Waukesha is the largest U.S. manufacturer of power transformers, which modulate electrical voltage along the energy grid. Under its job development investment grant, or JDIG, the company committed to creating 330 jobs and investing $140 million over the next three years to expand its Goldsboro operations.
New positions will pay on average at least $71,912, the state said, with expected openings for welders, machine operators, assemblers and engineers. North Carolina’s JDIGs are tied to performance, and Prolec will only benefit from up to $4.7 million in payroll tax rebates after it meets hiring and investment thresholds.
The state directed an additional $1.3 million to support job training for the expansion while Wayne County pitched in local incentives worth up to $5.5 million.
Based in Wisconsin, Prolec GE Waukesha is a subsidiary of a joint venture between GE Vernova (a recent spin-off of GE) and the Mexican conglomerate Xignux.
Adding a second Goldsboro facility will allow Prolec to produce 200 more transformers a year and back up essential equipment, the N.C. Economic Investment Committee said. The company told the state it selected Wayne County over competing sites in Wisconsin, Mexico, Louisiana and Brazil.
“It’s not a coincidence that another energy company is deepening its roots in North Carolina,” N.C. Secretary of Commerce Lee Lilley said in a statement Wednesday. “Prolec GE’s expansion is a vote of confidence in our workforce training efforts, infrastructure improvements and recruitment tools that are attracting growing companies to every corner of the state.”
This story was originally published May 14, 2025 at 11:58 AM.
